


Out of this (Fictional) World

by radredknuxfan



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Friendship, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-08 17:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12869625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radredknuxfan/pseuds/radredknuxfan
Summary: The survivors have been through so much over the past month, losing friends and finding out that their sacrifices meant nothing. Now that they've escaped, how are they going to readjust to the real world? And was the mastermind lying about the outside world? Obvious spoilers for V3, so read at your own risk.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, apologies for abandoning Kokichi’s Fun Times so quickly. I don’t want to completely blame the lack of response for that. Really, it’s only partially the reason. The other part was that I managed to think of something better (and more original) to do. Sure, there are some other fics I’ve seen where the three survivors were affected by the game worse than you would think, but I wanted to make it a little more realistic…not to mention making it appear like a sequel of sorts to the game. Anyway, please enjoy!
> 
> P.S. Just to warn you guys, the first small chunk of this story comes from the epilogue, as I couldn’t think of a better way to segue into the new stuff. Thankfully, it’s relatively short, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Shuichi, Maki and Himiko stood in front of the giant hole in the skylight, bright white light streaming through it as they prepared to make the journey to the outside world.

“Come on. We can’t stay in this fictional world together.” said Himiko, finally breaking the silence that had pervaded between the three of them. “We gotta take all of the experience we earned in this world and go on to the next.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” said Shuichi, smiling. “We’ll see what this world gained, and what it lost, and all the rest.”

Pausing for a second, Shuichi turned his head back towards the two girls, the warm smile still evident on his face.

“Let’s find out…together.”

Nodding in agreement, the three survivors finally took their first step towards the opening to the outside, carefully maneuvering their way around the rubble of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles.

Unfortunately, getting out of the dome was going to be trickier than they thought, as when they came closer to the wall that separated their fiction from the reality, they soon realized just how high the hole was.

Thankfully, though, their luck held out, as after they picked their way out of another building Shuichi didn’t recall ever going to during the game, they found that there just happened to be a giant pile of rubble up against the side of the dome.

“Hey, it looks like we might be able to reach the hole if we climb up this rubble!” said Maki, shielding her eyes from the light the hole was giving off.

“Oh, I knew Keebo was looking out for us!”

“I’m pretty sure this is just luck more than anything, Himiko.” said Shuichi. “Still, we should at least thank him for saving our lives.”

“How, though?” asked Maki. “I saw the explosion. I’m pretty sure Keebo’s scattered around here in a thousand pieces.”

This suggestion ended up depressing Shuichi and Himiko a bit, their expressions faltering as they looked towards the ground.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get into that kind of detail.” she said, realizing that she was ruining the mood.

“It’s okay. I’m sure we’ll find some way to thank him for that, even if he isn’t really around to hear it.”

The three of them grew quiet once more, the sacrifice of the “Ultimate Robot” not forgotten by any of them.

Eventually, though, the three of them returned their focus to the task in front of them, and with determination on their faces, they began to make the climb towards freedom.

Unfortunately, it was too late for them to realize just how steep the pile turned out to be.

“Nyeh, why is this so steep?” whined Himiko. “Someone give me a ride up to the top!”

Both Shuichi and Maki were getting tired as well, although the former was more tired than the latter considering she was much more athletic than he was.

Speaking of, a thought crossed Shuichi’s mind as the three of them continued their climb up the rubble.  
“Say Maki, I’m curious. I know you said before that your assassin training helped you move as fast as you do, but…since we know that’s a lie…”

Maki was admittedly a little puzzled by Shuichi’s question, especially considering how he trailed off as if leaving the rest of the question vague.

“Where did this all come from?” she asked, somehow still managing to climb up the wreckage with barely a sweat.

“I don’t know, I just…I was just looking at you climbing this pile of rubble, and it kind of reminded me of when you, me, and Kaito would train.”

Despite all of the days spent participating in the killing game melding together at this point, Maki could still pretty clearly remember her training sessions with Shuichi and Kaito, especially how she easily outpaced the both of them (even Kaito, who barely even did any work).

“Well, it must be the Flashback Light, right? Tsumugi did say that it was impossible for them to bring back the memories we had from before we participated in the show.”

“That seems about right.” said Shuichi, although being reminded about their inability to return to their normal lives did bring him down a little. “We must still have at least some remnants of the talents we were given.”

“Ooh, does that mean I can still do some of my magic?” asked Himiko, having caught Shuichi’s words despite her being a few feet under them in terms of progress.

Both Shuichi and Maki traded looks, neither one of them wanting to break the news to Himiko after she seemingly got her hopes up about nothing. However, to their surprise, Himiko instead giggled.

“Don’t worry, you two. I’m just joking.”

Smiling, Shuichi shook his head before returning his focus to the climb in front of him as they almost managed to reach the top.

“Still, it was kind of fun being an Ultimate, even if the context was kind of messed up.” said Himiko. “I’m going to miss it.”

“Me too.” said Shuichi.

Maki simply nodded, choosing to remain silent as she couldn’t really think of anything else to add.

Eventually, the three of them finally managed to make it to the top, pausing at the top of the rubble pile as they looked at the giant hole created by Keebo’s self-destruction.

“Ugh, that was so tiring.” commented Himiko as she worked on catching her breath. “Can one of you give me a piggyback ride out of here?”

Despite asking nicely this time (compared to when she demanded it during their walk up the staircase to the academy’s sixth floor), neither Shuichi nor Maki wanted to have to deal with Himiko’s extra weight during their climb through the hole. So, after some silent arguing between the two of them, it came to Shuichi to let her down easily.

However, before he could even say a word to the fictional Ultimate Magician, Shuichi’s eye caught a shadow on the pile below them.

Puzzled, he looked at his two fellow survivors and noticed that, with the light from the hole, the two of them were also giving off shadows as well. This one, however, was much bigger, broadcasting over almost the entire pile as well as a few inches of the ground below them.

Looking up at where he assumed the creator of the shadow was coming from, his eyes widened when he saw just what was lording over the three of them.

“Look!” he shouted, pointing up towards the hole.

Both Maki and Himiko did as Shuichi asked, an excited look appearing on the red-haired girl’s face as she saw what was up there.

“We’re saved!”

Maki wasn’t exactly as excited about the prospect of this newcomer as Himiko was, considering she could barely see the look of dismay on his face, but she was going to take what she could get, especially since she doubted that getting out of the dome they were in once they went through the hole was going to be easy.

As the three survivors looked up at the hole, the man looked down at them, looking like he was briefly considering just leaving them to get out of their predicament themselves. Thankfully for the kids, though, he reconsidered, reaching over the railing of the lift he was in and stretching his hand out as far as he could into the dome.

The first one to grab his hand turned out to be Himiko considering she was the most eager to actually leave, and thanks to her petite figure, getting her out proved to be pretty easy.

After Himiko was pulled out into the lift, the man returned to his original position, reaching out for the next person to grab on, and after some silent discussion between the two, Shuichi ended up becoming the next one to go.

However, as he was pulled up by the man, his expression darkened when he noticed the telltale logo of Team Danganronpa emblazoned on his shirt and nametag.

Of course, Shuichi was well aware that being rescued by someone outside of the people who trapped the sixteen of them inside the academy was wishful thinking more than anything, but seeing that logo quickly brought back the painful memories of the past month.

As much as he wanted to give the man a piece of his mind, he decided against it. For one thing, he really believed that he’d said all he’d needed to say during the final class trial, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if they were all watching as well.

There was also the fact that judging from his appearance, he was most likely low-level, and he didn’t really deserve all of the blame as to why they were put through this.

Lastly, there was the fact that Maki was still waiting her turn, and he knew quite well just how she would react if he held up her getting rescued.

So, he remained silent, allowing himself to be pulled into the lift. As he picked himself up off of the metal flooring and went to rejoin Himiko, the man reached down into the dome to pick up Maki and Shuichi couldn’t help but notice the outside of the dome they were in, mostly due to the fact that it was plastered with Team Danganronpa logos.

“These people really need to redecorate.” commented Himiko, having noticed Shuichi look at the same thing she was looking at for the past minute or so.

The ex-detective chuckled a bit at Himiko’s sarcasm, although in reality it was more half-hearted than anything, mostly because at this point he just wasn’t in it.

Eventually, Maki came to join them, and the lift pulled away from the dome, traveling in the opposite direction before retracting down to the ground once they had some clear space.

Once they came to a stop, the man released a latch, pushing open a part of the railing that served as a doorway before hopping off and landing on the ground. He then turned around before offering a hand and assisting Himiko down to the ground as a courtesy.

Maki and Shuichi were a different story, though. The man did offer his hand to them, but the latter politely declined the offer, while the former simply glared at the man before hopping down herself.

With all four down on solid ground (and three out of the four treating it as the momentous occasion it was), the staff member took a few steps off in one direction before turning back to address the survivors.

“Follow me.” he said. “The CEO wants to see you three.”

“The CEO?” asked Maki, surprised. “Why would he want to see us?”

“I’m just an employee here, miss. The higher-ups don’t tell us anything unless it’s important.”

Shuichi could definitely see the man’s point, considering nobody’s required to tell people everything. Still, he would have appreciated at least knowing what they were getting themselves into, especially since the three of them and Keebo were the ones who’d destroyed what was essentially the life’s work of Team Danganronpa.

As for Maki herself, while she didn’t look too happy at being left in the dark, she also was aware that it was best not to make a scene, so she remained silent as well, gesturing towards Himiko as the three of them made their way out of the cavernous room that held their fictional prison.

As the three ex-Ultimates made their way through the studio, staying close to the staff member who rescued them, none of them could really resist taking a look around them, listening to see how the real world worked after so long spent being for all intents and purposes a fictional character.

Unfortunately, even though the three of them knew that finding out how much of what Tsumugi said was true or not wasn’t going to be easy, they were all pretty disappointed by what they’d heard.

For the most part, most of the interactions between staff that they’ve managed to catch through the noise proved to be simply defeat. The three of them continued to hear some form of the fact that they were soon going to be out of a job, although some groups took it better than others, which came as a bit of a surprise to the ex-Detective.

Even though Shuichi knew that morality wasn’t as black and white as he thought it was (especially considering all of the time he spent with Monokuma and the Monokubs), seeing the way that the staff was acting was surprising to him. He’d managed to build up so much anger towards them over the course of the final class trial and their exodus towards the real world; he completely forgot that there were people who were simply more concerned with just making entertainment.

After managing to pull his attention away from a small group of people discussing where they were going to go next after production of the show shut down, Shuichi turned towards the rest of the group only to find that they’d managed to reach a large set of double doors.

Taking a glance at said doors, Shuichi couldn’t help but notice just how elegant the design of it was compared to ones around them, and while he didn’t feel it was right to use the talents of the fictional version of him, it was easy enough to deduce that they must have reached the CEO’s office just as planned.

Coming to a stop, the man turned back around to face the three survivors, his expression unreadable.

“The CEO’s right inside. There is one thing I must ask of you three, though.”

“And what is that?” asked Maki, not liking where this is going.

“Please be courteous to him.”

“Why should we?” asked Himiko, annoyance in her tone. “He’s just as at fault as everyone here for what happened inside that dome.”

“That’s because he’s only letting you guys walk without any consequences out of the goodness of his heart. I know you guys don’t remember anything about the contracts you’ve signed, but Team Danganronpa reserves the right to take any of you to court over the damages that you three have caused to the brand.”

Himiko cowered almost as quickly as Miu did after hearing what the staff member said, wanting to avoid causing any problems. Shuichi and Maki were a little more brave, especially Maki, as the ex-Assassin stood her ground, staring down the staff member to show that she wasn’t going to be intimidated.

The man, however, wasn’t in the mood to try and get through Maki’s defenses, so after sighing heavily, he gestured towards the door with one arm before stepping around the three of them, presumably to return to his original work.

“Ready to go?” asked Shuichi, a slightly nervous look on his face as he turned his head towards Maki and Himiko.

The former nodded, her confidence not wavering in the slightest since her little episode with the staff member. Himiko, however, was shaking like a leaf, looking almost like she did before the little magic show she did in the gym.

This time, however, instead of letting her stew, Shuichi stepped forwards, placing a hand on her arm and giving her a confident smile as she looked up torwards the male.

While this wasn’t a hundred percent fail-proof method, Shuichi’s method of reassurance did brighten Himiko’s disposition a little, and with a new vigor, the three of them made their way into the CEO’s office, ready to confront the leader of Team Danganronpa.


	2. Chapter 2

The chatter coming from the studio outside was quickly silenced when Shuichi closed the door to the CEO’s office behind him, Maki and Himiko having already came through a few moments ago. The only thing they could hear outside of the muffled voices coming from people standing nearby was the ticking of a nearby grandfather clock, the antique part of a large number of seemingly expensive items scattered around the room.

As Shuichi took a look around the room during his walk inside (his manufactured detective instincts kicking into gear as he moved), he could tell just how flashy the room would have looked to a normal person, like the CEO wanted to flaunt his earnings but be subtle about it.

The contents of the room weren’t all that important to Shuichi, though, as he was more concerned with the occupants of said room.

Besides the three of them, there were also multiple men in suits of varying colors. Shuichi couldn’t help but be a little creeped out at the sheer uniformity of everyone, almost as if they were some type of hit squad assigned to destroy him and the others at the CEO’s whim.

Speaking of the CEO, he sat at the large desk in front of the three survivors. Surprisingly, the man’s demeanor went against the ex-detective’s assumptions of weariness considering how difficult he imagined running an entire studio company would be. Shuichi could see some small strands of gray hair scattered throughout the man’s light brown color, which was thankfully a small sign that he wasn’t completely shut off from all emotions.

Unfortunately, with only two chairs placed in front of the desk, Shuichi was forced to stand as the director gestured towards the door with two fingers.

“Leave us for now.” he said, not taking his eyes off of the three survivors. “I’d like to speak to these three alone.”

Without saying a word, the underlings (for lack of a better word) did as the CEO asked, filing around the desk and the teenagers before heading out of the door.

As soon as the door shut behind them and the room was once again brought to a near silence, the CEO threaded his fingers together, resting his chin on them.

He spent the next few minutes simply watching them, not saying a word as his eyes flitted between Shuichi, Maki and Himiko, almost to the point where it ended up becoming really awkward.

Eventually, Shuichi knew that he had to say something in order to break the silence between the four people in the room.

However, before he could even open his mouth to speak, the director beat him to the punch.

“How did you do it?”

Shuichi was completely caught off guard, the CEO’s eyes right on him as he asked his question.

“Excuse me?”

“How did you do it?” repeated the CEO. “How did you convince millions upon millions of people to turn away from the kind of entertainment we provided?”

“Entertainment?” asked Himiko, unable to remain silent any longer. “How can you call people killing each other entertainment?”

“Because the alternative is boring monotony!” he said, his voice building up to a near shout. “When you have a world without conflict, you need to find something different to keep yourselves from going insane!”

“So, Tsumugi wasn’t lying about that.” Shuichi said quietly.

“Of course not! Why would we need something like Danganronpa if the world wasn’t like this?” asked the CEO, waving his hand around the room to signify the world around him.

“You do realize that there are hundreds of different ways that you can keep people entertained that don’t involve murder, right?” asked Maki, her red eyes figuratively boring into the man’s head.

“Yes, I do.” said the CEO, meeting her stare with one of his own. “However, none of the methods we’ve tried before had as much of a lasting impact as Danganronpa had.”

“I don’t understand, though!” said Himiko. “How could people enjoy something so…disgusting?”

“I believe it’s as Miss Shirogane said during the final class trial. Most people are attracted by the battle between hope and despair. Heck, I’ve heard some people were in to the simple depravity of it all. I’m not going to judge, but fifty three seasons is nothing to sneeze at.”

“How can you be so indifferent about this?” asked Shuichi. “If I was in your position, I can’t imagine what I’d be feeling after seeing so many people die in front of you.”

“Oh, believe me, the first few seasons were rough.” said the CEO. “I couldn’t even look at some of the footage of the executions that the writers planned out.”

“I’m guessing that changed?”

“Yes, it did. I was desensitized to the violence once Season 4 rolled around, and it was good timing, too. I like to think that season was one of our best.”

The CEO couldn’t help but be proud of himself, smiling wistfully as he ignored the looks of disgust that Himiko and Maki were giving him.

The moment of reflection was soon broken, though, when the CEO realized that he’d completely forgot to do something important.

“Oh, where are my manners? We’ve been speaking for so long and I completely failed to even introduce myself.”

The CEO quickly readjusted his position on the chair before addressing his mistake.

“My name is Shingo Yukizome, Co-Founder and CEO of Team Danganronpa.”

Yukizome briefly considered mentioning the fact that Chisa, one of the Ultimates from the anime that preceded the start of their live action series just happened to be named after him. However, he reconsidered, remembering that they most likely wouldn’t even remember considering what they did to their memories.

“Co-Founder?” asked Shuichi. “Where’s the other founder?”

“I’m afraid he’s no longer working with us. He retired around…Season 45, if I remember correctly.”

Yukizome was briefly hit with a bout of wistfulness, some of the memories of his partner’s work with the team playing through his mind.

“Team Danganronpa was never the same without him. Still, I did my best to keep the ship upright. It’s too bad we only managed to last eight more seasons, though.”

“I can’t believe that you’re so calm about this!” said Shuichi, annoyed. “How can you be when we’ve essentially destroyed your entire empire?”

“Believe me, I am annoyed.” said Yukizome, although his expression remained neutral. “Fifty-three seasons of work went down the drain because some snot-nosed kids decided that they needed to put a stop to the kind of quality entertainment we provided. The best Junko we’ve had in years was killed, too!”

“That wasn’t our fault!” shouted Himiko. “If she would have just moved instead of waved goodbye, she wouldn’t have been crushed by that rock!”

Yukizome paused, briefly considering his words before speaking once more.

“Honestly, I just don’t care anymore.” he said, ignoring Himiko’s outburst. “The people realized that Danganronpa is morally disgusting now thanks to you, so why should I try to convince them otherwise?”

Yukizome then fell silent once more, looking off to the side before saying something that made Maki’s blood boil.

“We’ve put so much work into people killing each other, and now it’s all pointless.” he said offhandedly. 

“You disgust me.” said Maki, adding as much venom to her voice as she could manage. “Playing with the lives of normal people like you’ve done is the lowest of the low.”

“Oh, please.” said Yukizome, looking unimpressed. “You have no right to say that to me when everyone who was ever part of Danganronpa willingly auditioned for the parts.”

Maki immediately shot out of her seat, looking like she was just about ready to throttle the CEO, but before she could do so, Shuichi quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her path so she couldn’t reach the smug looking director.

“Maki, please calm down! Resorting to violence isn’t going to get us anywhere!”

Shuichi also remembered the possible lawsuit that Yukizome had hanging over their heads, and he didn’t want to raise that possibility any further by causing physical harm to him.

Thankfully, that fact didn’t need to be said, as Maki’s expression returned to her normal cold hard stare, and her arms returned to her sides.

After giving Yukizome the darkest glare she could muster (the CEO barely acknowledged it), she turned her attention back to Shuichi.

“We’re leaving.”

Without waiting for a reply, Maki turned on her heel and began making her way towards the door, but she didn’t get far before Shuichi spoke up.

“Wait, now? We’ve barely even got anywhere with this conversation!” he said, looking bewildered as he gestured towards the still silent CEO.

“I realize that. I just don’t believe I’m going to be able to look at this jerk any longer without getting the urge to punch his face in.”

Shuichi could see Maki’s point. Yukizome had some tics that even irritated the ex-detective to no end as well, but he liked to think he was a more reasonable person than the hot tempered assassin.

“Give me one second, Maki.”

Shuichi briefly went through all of the information he had collected from Tsumugi during the last trial, trying to decide if there was anything worthwhile to ask the CEO about.

There was one question that had been vexing him since the meeting began, though, so after a few seconds of pause, he finally started speaking.

“Why did you even decide to do this in the first place?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why did you even decide to start Danganronpa?” asked Shuichi more forcefully.

“Oh, that? It’s simple. Remember the first three seasons on that list that Miss Shirogane showed you during the trial?”

Shuichi nodded, the list of season titles running through his mind.

“The first three seasons were actually two video games and an anime. To be fair, the anime wasn’t as popular as we’d hoped it’d be, but after seeing how much of a hit the games were, we knew we had to strike while the iron’s hot.”

Shuichi clearly did not like the answer, but he remained silent, realizing that there was no real point in trying to argue basic popularity. Instead, he began leading Maki and Himiko as they began heading towards the door.

Before they could actually leave, however, Shingo Yukizome spoke up once more, a small thump sound emitting when his back made contact with the back of his leather chair.

“I’m afraid that I can’t let you leave quite yet.”

All three of the survivors’ heads whipped around to face the CEO, confusion etched on Shuichi and Himiko’s faces as they wondered just what he was talking about.

“What? Why can’t we leave?” asked Himiko.

“That’s because you three need to go through your therapy sessions.”

“We don’t need therapy, Yukizome.” said Maki darkly.

“I’m afraid I must insist. A former winner ended up committing suicide not long after he survived the game. Once all of the litigation wore off, we decided it was best to mandate a minimum of three hours of therapy before winners could be released into the real world.”

“Oh, that’s real cute.” said Maki. “You’re threatening us with the possibility of a lawsuit when you’re scared of getting one yourself.”

“Miss Harukawa, the only reason I’m letting you go and not suing you into oblivion is because of the support you three have gotten from the audience. We may have the right, but we cannot go against the audience’s will if we still want to remain in their good graces.”

All three of the survivors looked positively bewildered at the prospect of having the support of the audience, so Yukizome was forced to elaborate. Reaching over, he grabbed a piece of paper before handing it over to Shuichi, who grabbed it and began scanning through its contents.

“These are some of the comments we’ve received as the final episode was wrapping up. Apparently your words must have really convinced them, Mr. Saihara.”

Shuichi’s hands couldn’t help but start shaking as he read the supportive comments, the ex-detective barely able to keep himself together as he realized that they weren’t going to be completely alone once they’d finally escaped the studio.

In an attempt to avoid causing a scene, though, he quickly handed the paper off to Maki and looked away, not wanting to look at it anymore.

“Now, to avoid any unnecessary issues cropping up, you three are going to be escorted to your sessions. Honestly, I do apologize for all of the trouble, but we cannot risk this kind of thing happening again.” said Yukizome.

The survivors were all still shell-shocked at this new revelation about their support, but after hearing the mention of their therapy sessions, they managed to pull themselves out of it and silently agree to suck it up and get them over with.

A couple of minutes later, the doors opened, and one of the suited men that Shuichi remembered seeing back when they’d arrived stood between them, gesturing for him and the others to follow.

After silent agreements between them, they walked over to join the man, ready to get the sessions over with, but just before they could exit the room, Shingo spoke up one final time.

“Oh, by the way, you haven’t answered my original question, Mr. Saihara.”

With how crazy the past conversation was going, Shuichi had completely forgotten about the fact that he’d failed to answer it, so it took him a few seconds to completely recall what he had even asked.

“How did I convince millions of people to turn away from Danganronpa? I showed them the truth.”

Shuichi quickly turned away before he could see how well the CEO took his answer, but judging by the flicker of emotion he noticed, it probably wasn’t any good. Still, he was glad to have gotten one over on the guy.

Ignoring the figurative heat radiating from the angry CEO, Shuichi followed behind Maki and Himiko as the man lead the three of them out of the CEO’s office and back into the hallways of the studio.

This time, though, instead of taking the time to look at the building around him, Shuichi chose instead to focus on the path in front of him. To be honest, with how much he’d went through in the past couple of hours, he wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next day or so.

Unfortunately, rest had to wait for the moment, as they’d finally reached the therapy wing of the studio not too long after.

“You two are going in Room #1.” said the man, not wasting any time as he pointed towards Shuichi and Himiko, before his attention shifted to Maki. “You are taking Room #2.”

“Why can’t we all be together?” asked Shuichi, puzzled.

“Well, technically you’re all supposed to be in separate rooms, but it’s been such a rare occasion for more than two people to survive a game that we were never able to allocate part of the budget for a third therapy room. Frankly, though, you should be happy that we’re allowing you two to be together.”

There were at least a few things that Shuichi wanted to say that would have completely shot down the man’s reasoning, but Himiko stepped forwards, placing a hand on Shuichi’s shoulder before standing on her toes so that she could reach his ear.

“Let’s just get this over with, Shuichi. There’s no need to make things worse.”

Shuichi briefly considered Himiko’s words, but thankfully it didn’t take long for him to decide that she had the right idea.

Remaining silent, Shuichi nodded, following closely behind Maki and Himiko as the three of them made their way towards the therapy rooms.

Stopping a few feet in front of said rooms, Shuichi turned towards Maki, who clearly did not look happy at the prospect of having to share her feelings with someone she didn’t know, but she chose not to voice her concerns, instead listening as Shuichi spoke.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you in a little while then, right?”

“Yeah.” Maki said simply, not trusting herself to say anything more.

“I’ll see you in a little while, Maki!” said Himiko, adopting a smile on her face in an attempt to defuse the tension in the area. “I want us to be walking together when we finally make it outside.”

“Oh yeah, that does kind of sound like a good idea.” said Shuichi. “What do you think, Maki?”

Maki stared at Shuichi and Himiko for a few moments before a small smile crossed her face, her expressions answering the question for her.

In silence, the three of them split off into their separate rooms, not looking forwards to what they are going to have to endure.


	3. Chapter 3

Time passed as Shuichi and Himiko sat in one of the therapy rooms, the former bored out of his mind as the therapist continued to treat the two of them with kid gloves by asking them simplistic questions.

In an attempt to get through the session as quickly as they could so that they could rejoin Maki and finally leave the studio, both Shuichi and Himiko resorted to short answers, partially because of that same reason, but also partially because neither of them trusted the therapist enough to share anything deeper than stuff they’d most likely already seen during the filming of the show.

However, the therapist, a brown-haired woman in her 30s who had on a basic gray pantsuit, was craftier than they thought, as she quickly noticed how uninterested they were.

Having seen most of the footage of the killing game, she knew perfectly well what the two of them thought of their friends judging by how they interacted, but in the interest of getting them to actually open up, she figured that it was best to hear it straight from their mouths. Plus, she might even be able to get some more insight into it as well, so she was more than eager to try it out.

Returning her focus to the two survivors in front of her, the therapist clapped her hands together, catching their attention just as she noticed their minds start to wander.

“So…I think we need something a little more interesting if we’re going to have a breakthrough with you two.” she said, ignoring the annoyed looks both of the kids were giving her. “How about we discuss your relationship with the other contestants?”

“They were our friends.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, looking towards Himiko with a frankly unnerving smile on her face.

“They were our friends! Don’t you dare call them contestants!” said Himiko, almost shouting.

While the therapist was taken aback a little by the sudden outburst from the red-headed girl, she still remained calm and collected, a slightly more subdued smile on her face as she glanced over at Himiko.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” said the therapist, her expression clearly showing that she was anything but sorry. “Let’s discuss your…friends.”

Himiko still did not look happy, but after a pointed look from Shuichi, she remained silent, allowing the therapist to continue on.

“Now, I’m going to read a list of your classmates’ names, and I want you two to tell me exactly what you think about them. Don’t be afraid to tell the complete truth.”

The therapist was about to mention the fact that they would never know because they were all dead, but she quickly realized that would most likely be in poor taste, so she let her last sentence stand on its own.

As for the other two people in the room, they traded looks between each other before silently nodding at the therapist, thinking that there was no reason for them to refuse to go along.

“Good to see you both being cooperative. Now, first name…”

The therapist glanced down at a clipboard that she had in her hands, which Shuichi assumed contained a list of their friends’ names. Honestly, he didn’t expect anyone within the studio to remember their names considering how disposable they were.

“Miu Iruma.”

“Uh…she was alright. Kind of rude, but I didn’t mind her.” said Shuichi, slightly caught off guard by the therapist’s decision on the first name.

“What he said.” said Himiko.

While the therapist was a little annoyed that Himiko rode Shuichi’s coattails with that last question, she could technically see why most of the students would think of Miu that way.

“Kaito Momota.”

“He was a little weird, but I enjoyed spending my time with him.”

“He annoyed me a lot.”

“Tenko Chabashira.”

“I…don’t know what to think of her.” said Shuichi. “The whole ‘degenerate male’ thing was a bit aggravating to listen to, but she really had her good moments, too.”

The therapist looked over to Himiko expecting her own answer, but when she laid eyes on her and noticed the faint blush, it gave just about as much of a complete answer as one would imagine.

Still, she was at least considerate enough not to delve into something that would end up with an ethics complaint, so she decided it was best to move on.

The next name on her list was even more intriguing, though.

“Kaede Akamatsu.”

Neither of them really said anything, but the therapist didn’t really mind, as the conflicted look on Shuichi’s face had clearly caught her attention.

“Shuichi, I can tell by your face that something’s up. Would you mind telling me about your experiences with Kaede?”

“W-what’s to tell?” said Shuichi, wanting desperately to avoid having to answer that question. “We didn’t really get enough time to interact with her, so I don’t really know what I can say about her.”

The therapist, however, figuratively smelled blood, and once she had something going, she wasn’t going to pull back until she got her answer.

“Shuichi, you were the one who spent the most time with Kaede out of all of the other students up until she was executed, so I really don’t believe you.”

“I’m not lying to you.” said Shuichi, trying his best to keep his hands from shaking. “I mean…you’ve seen the footage. I could barely look her in the eye.”

“That was only because you had your hat as an excuse to hide away from others.” pointed out the therapist.

Shuichi was about to continue to argue his point, but he quickly shut his mouth once he realized that the therapist was right, looking depressed at his stared at his shoes.

“Shuichi, stop trying to hide things from me. There obviously must have been something going on with you two. Otherwise you wouldn’t have taken your hat off when you did.”

The therapist fell silent for a moment, looking expectantly at Shuichi.

“Am I wrong?”

Shuichi continued to look at his feet, wanting for anything to come up that would get in the way of him having to confess what he frankly was unsure was even true himself, but there was no one there to save him. Even Himiko was a little curious as to what the therapist was implying.

Sighing heavily, Shuichi placed his face in his hands before finally speaking.

“I liked her.” he said, his voice muffled from the barrier he put up.

“What was that?”

“I liked her, okay?” he said, exasperated as he spread his arms wide. “I didn’t realize it until she died, but yeah, I did.”

“There we go.” said the therapist, smiling. “Now was that so hard?”

“Of course it was! I was just about ready to move on from her, and now you’re going around bringing this subject up again!”

The therapist opened her mouth to interject, but before she could, Shuichi continued speaking, building up a head of steam as he spoke.

“And need I remind you that she was killed for absolutely no reason! She was just a scapegoat for Tsumugi!”

“Shuichi, calm down!” said Himiko, jumping out of her seat. “This isn’t like you!”

“How would you know?!?”

Himiko was taken aback by Shuichi’s sudden outburst, reeling back from where she originally was trying to comfort the wound up ex-detective.

“What do you mean?”

“Himiko, these people have erased all of our memories of what we were before we joined this stupid show.” he said, angrily pointing towards the therapist as an example. “We have no lives to go back to, just like Tsumugi said during the final trial!”

“Then we’ll just restart our lives then!” said Himiko, looking on the verge of tears. “Sure, we may have memories of things that never actually happened, but that’s not going to stop us from living like normal people.”

Shuichi clearly didn’t look convinced with Himiko’s explanation. In fact, he found it really hard to believe that they would be able to live normal lives, especially since most of the world has seen the destruction of Danganronpa at their hands.

Still, though, he could see Himiko’s point. Life may suck for them right now, but they can always start over and hope that things would work out.

Once again sighing heavily, Shuichi sat back down in his chair, placing his head in his hands again as he fought against a rising headache.

As for the therapist, once the two survivors had managed to calm down, she took it as a sign that they could continue.

“Alright, now that we’ve got all of that out of our system, I say we move on to another subject.” she said.

“No.”

“Excuse me?” asked the therapist, a little indignant as she looked at Shuichi.

“We’re done. We’re leaving.” he said, placing his closed fists on top of his knees.

“Mr. Saihara, you and your friend still have two hours left in your session.”

“I don’t care.” he said, his eyes narrowing at the clinical tone in her voice. “I’m sick of looking at anyone involved with this show at this point.”

Shuchi quickly whirled around on his foot, looking towards the exit door as he addressed Himiko.

“Come on, Himiko. Let’s go get Maki and get out of here.”

Himiko was admittedly a little caught off guard by Shuichi suddenly shutting down their session, but she did willingly hop out of her seat, following Shuichi as the two of them walked out of the door, leaving the therapist struggling to form coherent sentences.

Finally, with a huff, she reached over and picked up a nearby phone, holding it to her ear as she dialed a number.

“Yukizome.” said the voice on the other end.

“Sir, this is Ayame from the therapy department. We have a problem.”

She could clearly hear a groan coming from the other end where the CEO was clearly experiencing his own headache coming on.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The two survivors I was assigned to supervise have left the room. They’ve said that they refuse to continue with the session. I assume that they’re going over to pick up the third.”

“Of course they are. I could tell that they were going to be a headache ever since they survived the destruction of the academy.”

“What should I do, sir? Should I call security?”

There was silence coming from Yukizome’s end as the CEO considered his next options.

“No need. I’m not thrilled about it, but from what I could tell, they’re about as put together as you’d imagine. An hour is probably good enough.”

“Sir, are you sure?” asked the therapist, surprised that the CEO was willing to let them go. “I could have one of the others in the division keep an eye on those three and make sure that they’re not doing something drastic.”

Back on the other side of the line, Yukizome was about ready to wave that worry off, but after hearing Ayame’s suggestion, he couldn’t help but think it would be worth trying out, just to avoid risking any unnecessary legal trouble.

“You know what? Go ahead and do that. Make sure to keep me posted, even after Team Danganronpa closes down for good.”

The therapist didn’t answer back immediately, instead pausing for a moment due to being reminded of her most likely impending firing.

“Yes sir, I’ll do that.”

After placing the phone back on the receiver, the therapist folded her fingers together, placing her head upon them as she stared at the closed door sitting across the room from her thinking about who would be the best person to take on this job.

\----------------------------------------------  
Back outside, Shuichi and Himiko had just picked up Maki from her own session, the black-haired girl looking like she was about to throttle the next member of Team Danganronpa she saw.

The only reason that was true was because the therapist assigned to her got way too invasive, especially when it came to her ‘relationship’ with Kaito.

Needless to say, Maki’s therapist got an earful from the ex-assassin, and she would have even gotten physical if it wasn’t for Shuichi and Himiko taking that exact moment to come into the room and tell them that they were leaving.

Maki was more than happy to not to have to be in the vicinity of the therapist, a man with short black hair and a sunny disposition that disgusted the ex-assassin greatly.

Stepping out of her seat, Maki followed as Shuichi and Himiko made their way to the door.

The last thing Maki heard before the door closed was the phone on the therapist’s desk ringing, but she ignored it, more concerned about getting out of the building and getting on with her life.

As the three of them walked through the hallways of the studio, they did receive some weird looks from some of the staffers, no doubt due to what they’ve done during and after the show, but they were all completely ignored.

Finding their way around did prove to be a bit of a hassle, as the studio turned out to be deceptively confusing in terms of its layout. There were a bunch of winding corridors that someone could get easily lost in if they weren’t paying attention, and they had no guide to help them through it this time compared to when they were heading towards the CEO’s office.

Luckily, there were signs scattered around some of the intersections, which pointed out the directions of certain parts of the studio, and after some studying, even they managed to find the direction of the exit.

Eventually, they came upon a doorway, a somewhat unimposing doorway if it wasn’t for the fact that they could see the large sign marked EXIT above it, clearly marking their intended destination.

Stopping in front of it, both Maki and Himiko traded looks, their expressions apprehensive as they thought about what they were going to see behind said door.

As for Shuichi, though, his attention was fully on the sign, a mixture of eagerness and nervousness on his face as he debated whether he should really go outside or not.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to make the decision to take the next step, so after a few seconds to collect his thoughts, he turned back towards the two girls, a half smile on his face as he spoke.

“Ready to go, you two?”

Both Maki and Himiko nodded, the latter eager to see what outside was like while the former hid her nervousness with a nonplussed expression.

With everyone in agreement, Shuichi stepped forwards, placing his hand on the bar holding the door shut.

Pushing forwards, the door opened almost as if it was beckoning for them to come through, the sunlight nearly blinding them as the open air shined through.

Placing a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun’s rays, Shuichi stepped through the doorway, Maki and Himiko following close behind as they finally took their first steps into the real world, wondering just what they would see once they were out.


End file.
